A U.S. airman has drowned at Lake Manawa State Park.
According to officials the incident happened just before 2 p.m. on Sunday when the airman and 36 year old Master Sergeant Benjamin Ferguson were crossing the lake in a canoe when it hit a thin layer of ice and tipped over. Ferguson was able to swim to shore which took 20 to 30 minutes in freezing water but the airman did not make it.
Ferguson was taken to Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs with extreme hypothermia but is now in fair condition.
Firefighters from Council Bluffs and Omaha searched for the drowning victim until the recovery effort was called off due to lack of light. They returned on Monday morning and recovered the victim’s body.
An Offutt Air Force Base spokesman said the victim worked at the weather agency for Offutt in Bellevue.
Lake Manawa is a shallow 772-acre oxbow lake of the Missouri River with a maximum depth of 11 feet.
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